Recreating Kephart's Outfit

I think I have just about everything required for my Kephart kit. It's about 95% vintage equipment with a few modern amenities.

Most is pictured here. For bedding, we have a Canadian Army inflatable rubber air mattress (in place of a browse bag), a wool blanket, and mosquito net. I added a heavy duty survival blanket for use as a ground sheet, or spare tarp etc...
For shelter, I have two heavy canvas NVA zeltbahns, which button together to form a fairly roomy open sided tent. They can also be buttoned together and used as a bedroll, and individually they can be used as a rain cape or poncho. A small bag of ultralight tent pegs and a bag full of assorted rope and cords ensures a quick set up.
Next we have the cooking gear, the aforementioned GSI kit and Russian mess pot. A wooden kuksa cup to replace the plastic one in the mess kit. German bread bag for foodstuffs.
A toiletries bag, a first aid kid, and a tool kit consisting of a canvas housewife with dozens of needles and threads, buttons and waxes, a DC4 sharpener and a small pocket knife with awl.
The aforementioned hatchet and a large Silky saw for wood processing. And finally a pocket lantern. Will also be adding a headlamp and I always carry a flashlight

Might be a few other odds and ends to add, but that about sums it up! It all packs down fairly compact, as seen in the second photo.
Packs into the Telemark well, and carries comfortably. I need to make up some accessory straps where a few were missing, as the blanket and one poncho are just tied to the top.

For long trips, I'll be adding a chiappa little badger and a pocket fishing kit to resupply on food.

Now to determine which canteen I want to use...



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Alright, did some packing and repacking, shifted some stuff around. Now the blanket and rifle are inside the pack, with just one zeltbahn on top for quick access when it rains.

I shifted the Russian mess pot into the canvas haversack, and can use it to store other quick-access items and some spare water. This also allows me to cook up a quick lunch on the move without having to rummage through the whole pack.

The canteen I chose is this Chinese surplus 1 quart aluminium with a harness. It's been my go to for ages. Alternately, I have a US tropical 2 quart bladder canteen with the carrying case, that I've adapted with a hydration hose that can use an inline filter, so I'll see which one I prefer to carry when I get the chance to test this set up out.

Once again, I apologize for the picture quality. Not much lighting in the attic.

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In the interests of space and weight, I nixed the two zeltbahns and wool blanket. Ordered a BW rubberized poncho and a Dutch surplus woobie. For shelter, I'm just going to use one of my many tarps.

I'll move the zelts and wool to the canoe pack, as weight doesn't matter as much there.

Should knock off a good 8lbs from the kit, and provide the same amount of warmth, a bit more waterproofing, and I fit under the shelter better.

Stay tuned for more!
 
I made up a little pocket fishing kit to keep in my haversack, to get food in the backwoods without lugging a bunch of awkward tackle. Was considering the Ka-Bar backpack kaster, but this was significantly cheaper for basically the same thing. Short length of PVC pipe, capped at one end and plugged at the other. Tackle is stored inside the tube.

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I also made up a batch of rockahominy, which is coarse ground parched corn. Tastes amazing and was the secret of Indian scouts and runners. A tablespoon with water will keep you going all morning. Makes a phenomenal Johnny cake or nutritious porridge as well!

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JoshSkaarup said:
I made up a little pocket fishing kit to keep in my haversack, to get food in the backwoods without lugging a bunch of awkward tackle. Was considering the Ka-Bar backpack kaster, but this was significantly cheaper for basically the same thing. Short length of PVC pipe, capped at one end and plugged at the other. Tackle is stored inside the tube.

20190217-145223.jpg


I also made up a batch of rockahominy, which is coarse ground parched corn. Tastes amazing and was the secret of Indian scouts and runners. A tablespoon with water will keep you going all morning. Makes a phenomenal Johnny cake or nutritious porridge as well!

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Click to expand...
Nice fishing rig. I've come close a few times on pulling the trigger for a KA-BAR Kaster.
 
Made up an ultralight "grocery getting" set that fits well with this kit. Keep yourself fed any time of year!

The wee Chiappa Li'l Badger, with an attached skinning knife and two Marble's Catch-22s. One holds 50 rounds of .22LR, and the other, 70 of .22 short, giving you 120 rounds which should last a good while.

A small slingshot for conserving rifle ammo and quiet small game hunting.

The above fishing kit and tackle.

And finally 5 cable snares and a coil of brass snare wire.

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I just gave the one like but it is for the whole thread. Thanks for taking us on this journey through this process. I think you’ve made some solid choices.
 
Kephart got away from it all by heading to the woods. nature has a way of disconnecting us from the mental and emotional clutter the world throws at us.

I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself ... how's this for a modern day Horace Kephart:

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New gear came in! Got a Dutch woobie/ranger blanket, a Bundesweher rubber poncho and some Swiss rubberized wool gaiters! Quite a bit lighter than a wool blanket and zelt. The woobie can be tied to the poncho to make a cozy warm weather sleeping bag/bivy bag, and the poncho itself is pretty much big enough to be a shelter cloth in its own right. Pretty decent lightweight set up.

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Wasn't sure where else to put this, but it kind of fits here. To tangentially tie it in, I used the 62 to prep all the vegetables. It's such a great kitchen knife!

Last fall I got my first black bear. Finally getting around to making a massive batch of bear chili! Can't wait! I've eaten most of the steaks, but still have a ton of ground meat left. The steaks were amazing smoked and then braised in stout.

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Looks good man! That first photo is awesome. :thumbsup:
 
Lots of great stuff in this thread.

I've been wanting to try to make some of that parched corn rockahominy. There are a few different recipes for it from Kephart and other outdoor writers from that period, which method did you use?
 
I bought a bag of frozen corn, put it into the dehydrator until completely dry. Then put the big cast iron on the stove with a very little bit of oil, and put the dehydrated kernels in. Heat and keep pushing them around with a wooden spatula until they all turn brown. Then I ground them with mortar and pestle, but a coffee grinder would be a lot faster.

That was it! Super easy! I found a place online that sells dehydrated corn by the pound though, as I could only dehydrate a bit at a time, so it took a day or so to do a batch.

It tastes amazing.
 
Awesome. Haven't used my dehydrator for years.
 
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